MEET the father-and-son car restorers who are turning rust to riches by buying, selling and fixing some of the world's rarest cars. Lance, a former panel beater for Rolls-Royce, is the go-to guy for bespoke classic car restoration - while Merlin, specialises in sales and acquisition. Some of the rarest cars treated at their businesses in Brentford, west London, can be worth upwards of $19m. Lance and Merlin show us the features of a historic Ferrari, which has been brought into Romance of Rust to have its leaking windscreen resealed.
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MotorTranscript
00:0001. Master craftsman Lance McCormack owns one of Britain's best classic car restoration
00:05businesses, Romance of Rust. Helping him manage it is his son Merlin, the cutting edge salesman,
00:12who also runs his own classic car dealership. Together they turn rust to riches.
00:1802. Today's project is a very special Ferrari, which is delivered by Merlin.
00:25The car we've got here is a 1956 Ferrari 250 GT long wheelbase, Tour de France, 14 Louvre,
00:32it's a bit of a mouthful. This car was actually part of Disney at one point. Some of you might
00:38recognise it from The Love Bug, where it was badly defeated by Herbie. It's a very important
00:45historic car, the flamboyant Italian Stallion. This would have looked very grubby at some
00:49point in its life, and this car at some point in its life would have been worth tens of
00:53thousands. Now we're talking about ten million plus. My own personal insurance should go
00:57up as I touch it.
01:02It's quite basic, there's a bucket seat aspect to it. We've got the 14 Louvres here, and
01:09this is aluminium. To get that line in a double curvature panel is quite difficult. These
01:13were real craftsmen, these guys. Ferrari, they're like the Gucci of wheels, they're
01:17painted in silver. You could have them shiny, but it shows its competition history. It's
01:21more about aggression and delivery of the power. Look at this little device here. The
01:27leather is worn to the point it's almost going to tear, but that there shows you what lies
01:33beneath in the sole of this car, and it's nice that someone's preserved these. The leather
01:37hasn't got a single drop of lanolin left in it. In fact, a few more times open and closing
01:41with those and there'd be history.
01:44COMMS Now that the car is being driven in British
01:46weather, it's been discovered that the windscreen is letting in the rain.
01:50It's been in America for a while, probably California, so there's probably no issue with
01:54it being watertight, and it's not good for the car, not good for business.
01:57COMMS As Lance's main expertise lies in metalwork,
02:00he's called in some help for this job. Windscreen expert Phil, who's noticed something concerning.
02:06There's a big scratch here in the glass that's been polished out, so it's got a little bit
02:12of a weak point. I would try desperately not to take this out, just seal it in situ. It's
02:17too rare to take this apart.
02:19COMMS Normally, the team would carefully remove
02:21the windscreen to clean up the metalwork, and remove the old seal before refitting and
02:25resealing it. But the potential weak point means Phil doesn't want to risk far worse
02:29damage.
02:30If you took it out and broke it, we're in trouble here. It's nightmarish if that happens.
02:35Can't really talk and do. I mean, you can watch, but I'd better carry on and not talk
02:41any more because I really don't want to slip and damage the paint.
02:44COMMS Phil uses a range of tools to attack the
02:46seal, but one slip of his hand could cause damage in the tens of thousands.
02:51A lot of care has been taken here to remove the old sealer that's been put in layer upon
02:55layer to try to waterproof it.
02:58COMMS Once the old seal is cut away, Phil applies
03:01masking tape to protect the screen when the new seal is added.
03:04What we do here is a very careful, even bead will go around here, and when it's finished
03:11it just looks like it's meant to be there. That's what this man does very well.
03:17COMMS And now for the moment of truth. Phil carefully
03:20peels away the protective tape to reveal the newly sealed windscreen.
03:24With the work successfully completed, the Ferrari is now ready to be returned to its owner.
03:29It's a very important historic car, and it's now in the hands of someone that does it proud.
03:41COMMS Next time on Rust to Riches, business is booming
03:45and Merlin has ambitious plans to expand.
03:48Stuff's coming in and selling faster than I can even dream of, which is great for me,
03:52but it means that I'm constantly searching for new stock, which is a big struggle.
03:56Everybody and their brother thinks they can be a classic car dealer, and the competition's fierce.